The Scoring Ends. But help is on the way..
It finally happened. The Braves lost a game. And failed to score 45 runs in the game. Sad. A rough way for Shiell to make his Braves debut. Imagine starting during the biggest win streak of the season. Against Carpenter, the defending Cy Young winner. On the road. And you get a surprise 2-hour rain delay before taking the mound. Rough.
But still, Chipper's hit streak reaches 19 games. And McCann went deep yet again. So now it's on the Philly and let's win there. But the big news......
Braves acquire veteran closer- Bob Wickman- from Cleveland. How good is it? Hard to tell. Wickman's a veteran closer, so that's good. But this year his ERA is over 4, not good. For me, I'm excited about the move. I think its important to have a closer who's been there and done it before. And we'll recall that last season Wicky, as he'll come to be known, had 45 saves and a 2.47 ERA. Not a whole lot of k's for a closer, but solid location control.
I'll sit back and watch, and await the in-depth analysis of this new Brave's prior work from Sam or M. Norman. Probably Sam, since M. Norman is conspicuously absent of late.
But still, Chipper's hit streak reaches 19 games. And McCann went deep yet again. So now it's on the Philly and let's win there. But the big news......
Braves acquire veteran closer- Bob Wickman- from Cleveland. How good is it? Hard to tell. Wickman's a veteran closer, so that's good. But this year his ERA is over 4, not good. For me, I'm excited about the move. I think its important to have a closer who's been there and done it before. And we'll recall that last season Wicky, as he'll come to be known, had 45 saves and a 2.47 ERA. Not a whole lot of k's for a closer, but solid location control.
I'll sit back and watch, and await the in-depth analysis of this new Brave's prior work from Sam or M. Norman. Probably Sam, since M. Norman is conspicuously absent of late.
posted by A Brett | 8:10 PM
2 Comments:
Hopefully this will turn out differently than our last couple of efforts in acquiring overweight, past-their-prime closers (Kolb, Reardon, Hernandez etc). He won't make a big difference, but we didn't give up anyone important for him. Max Ramirez could be a decent player, but I think we're okay at catcher.
After our friend Kolb jumped the shark early last year, the bullpen has been eratic at best. The youth movement has yielded great dividends at the plate (not to mention behind it!) and with depth in the field. Unfortunately pitching is at a premium in a league with 30 teams. By the time you develop the young arms, off they run to others clubs for the big bucks. Even the average arm that can take up 3 innings of middle relief is valued at 3-4 million per season. So unless you can afford a New Yorkesque payroll, it is a tough position to maintain depth without cutting yourself elsewhere. I guess thats just restating the obvious. So where does that leave the Braves? How goes the search to find an owner with deeper pockets? Is Schuerholtz finished? Seems like they need a couple more arms in middle relief to even make a run at the wildcard (let alone the mets who seem talented enough to avoid the big skid?)
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